The weekend started with a “March for Life” protest on Friday and ended with a “Defeat the Mandates” rally that brought thousands more protesters to the District on Sunday. Separately, a D.C. police officer was shot Sunday night in Petworth.

“March for Life” Amid Challenges to Roe v. Wade

The annual March for Life, which happens around the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade, carried a new energy this year. Some protesters had high hopes that the court would overturn Roe before the next anniversary.

“I did [the march] in the past just because I wanted [to say] ‘We’re here, we’re here. We still believe abortion is wrong.’ But now I’m like, wow, maybe something will change for the better,” Macy Butler, a retired teacher from Silver Spring, told NPR, echoing other attendees’ remarks.

On Thursday, the court denied abortion providers’ most recent request to step in against a highly restrictive abortion law in Texas, making victory for reproductive rights advocates all the more unlikely. The law, which has been in effect since September, allows private citizens to bring lawsuits against anyone who “aids and abets” in an abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. It has inspired copycat laws across the U.S. Since the law involves enforcement by private citizens instead of state officials, it’s been tough for reproductive rights advocates to legally challenge.

The court is set to review another law that bans abortion in Mississippi after 15 weeks of pregnancy and could make a decision by June. This law, unlike the one in Texas, would overturn Roe if upheld by the conservative-majority court. The question facing the court in this case is whether the Constitution protects the right to seek an abortion.

“Defeat the Mandates” March 

Drums, music, and chants of “No more mandate!” resounded during the “Defeat the Mandates” rally on Sunday. Protesters marched from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial, sites the event website promoted as reminders of the sacrifice for a “free” America, to rally against COVID vaccine mandates.   

“If we follow the lines that we’re following today, we’re going back to a feudal two-class system,” a protester from Pennsylvania told WTOP. “We have to break the line somewhere and America is the country where it can happen.” 

While event organizers predicted about 20,000 attendees when requesting a permit, the reality was a much lower number. Robert Kennedy, Jr., whose anti-vax organization hosted the event, several doctors, and entertainers told the crowd unsubstantiated warnings and gave false statements about alleged issues around the COVID vaccine. Kennedy and company compared vaccine passports to slavery and drew parallels with Nazi Germany. 

Other attendees were more moderate in their statements, speaking out against the mandate in places like D.C. and New York where proof of vaccination is required for entry to many indoor businesses. 

“I respect people who want to give themselves the shot, I do,” protester Elena Mujica told Univision in Spanish. “But I also ask for respect for those of us who don’t wish to do so.”

In Other News …

A D.C. police officer was shot Sunday night on the 1300 block of Spring Road NW in Petworth. The officer was released from the hospital after receiving treatment for non-life-threatening injuries. 

Before the shooting, MPD officers tried to contact a man who MPD Chief Robert Contee said “appeared to be very suspicious in terms of his behavior.” Contee said the man began firing at officers before they could contact him. Officers chased the man to the 1400 block of Quincy Street NW, but the suspect remains at large.

—Ambar Castillo (tips? acastillo@washingtoncitypaper.com)

• To see today’s COVID-19 data, visit our coronavirus tracker.
• Anacostia High School teachers and staff held an impromptu work stoppage Friday after a shooting Wednesday in which bullets pierced the school entrance. Assistant Superintendent JuDonn DeShields and Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White visited the school to listen to employees’ safety concerns. [Post]
• The National Zoo’s newest baby is a prehensile-tailed porcupette. [Washingtonian]
• D.C. police arrested four teens in connection with recent carjacking incidents, as car thefts in the region have increased. [NBC4, Axios]

By Ambar Castillo (tips? acastillo@washingtoncitypaper.com)